Health Inequalities Dashboard: statistical commentary, March 2021
Published 2 March 2021
Applies to England
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/health-inequalities-dashboard-march-2021-data-update/health-inequalities-dashboard-statistical-commentary-march-2021
Main findings
The gap in life expectancy between the most and least deprived areas of England has significantly widened in recent years for both sexes. For males it increased from 9.0 years in 2011 to 2013 to 9.4 years in 2017 to 2019. For females during this period, the gap increased from 6.9 to 7.6 years.
Mortality rates from cardiovascular disease and cancer in people under the age of 75 decreased in England between 2011 to 2013 and 2017 to 2019. While the absolute difference in rates between the most and least deprived areas in England narrowed over this period, relative inequality significantly increased. People in the most deprived areas were 4 times more likely to die prematurely from cardiovascular diseases and 2.2 times more likely to die from cancer than people living in the least deprived areas in 2017 to 2019.
The relative inequality gap in suicide rates between the most and least deprived areas of England significantly narrowed between 2011 to 2013 and 2017 to 2019, but the rate is still almost twice as high in the most deprived areas compared with the least.
The percentage of children (under 16 years) in relative low income families significantly increased between 2014 to 2015 and 2018 to 2019, from 15.5% to 18.4%. The percentage of children in relative low income families in the most deprived areas of England was 3.2 times higher than in the least deprived areas in 2018 to 2019.
The gap in employment rate between those with a long-term health condition and the overall employment rate significantly narrowed between 2013 to 2014 and 2019 to 2020, from 13.1 percentage points to 10.6 percentage points.
Childhood obesity significantly increased in England between 2015 to 2016 and 2019 to 2020. Absolute inequality between children aged 10 to 11 years in the most and least deprived areas also significantly increased from 16.2 percentage points in 2015 to 2016 to 17.2 in 2019 to 2020. Inequality between ethnic groups has widened in both children aged 4 to 5 and 10 to 11 years.
Self-reported wellbeing – people with a low satisfaction score – significantly declined between 2013 to 2014 and 2019 to 2020 from 5.6% to 4.7%. Inequality by working status narrowed during this period.
Incidence of tuberculosis continues to decrease in England. Inequalities have also narrowed between the most and least deprived areas, but in 2017 to 2019 the incidence for people in the most deprived areas of England was still 5.3 times that in the least deprived areas.
Background
The Health Inequalities Dashboard provides information to monitor progress on reducing inequalities within England. It presents measures of inequality for 19 indicators, the majority drawn from the Public Health Outcomes Framework (PHOF).
The dashboard measures trends in each indicator since a baseline period, with longer term data provided where these are available. Baseline periods vary between indicators. Inequalities are considered across a range of dimensions, including deprivation, ethnic group, sexual orientation, employment status, religion and country of birth.
The Health Inequalities Dashboard was first made publicly available in July 2017 and the webtool was launched in September 2018.
New in this update
The tool was last updated on 2 March 2021.
The following indicators were updated to the latest available time period:
- life expectancy at birth
- children in low income families
- 16 to 17 year olds not in education, employment or training (NEET) or whose activity is not known
- gap in the employment rate between those with a long-term health condition and the overall employment rate
- childhood obesity
- self-reported wellbeing – people with a low satisfaction score
- tuberculosis incidence rate
- infant mortality rate
- under 75 mortality rate from all cardiovascular diseases
- under 75 mortality rate from cancer
- suicide rate
The latest update also includes the following changes:
- supplementary charts have been added for the Slope Index of Inequality measure for life expectancy at birth
- smoking prevalence in adults now contains a breakdown by sex for all geographies, with inequality measures also available by sex at England level for the majority of the inequality dimensions
- the indicator of children in low income families (all dependent children under 20) has been replaced with two new indicators: children in absolute low income families and children in relative low income families – both are based on children aged under 16 and further details can be found in the Definitions tab
View the Health Inequalities Dashboard.
Responsible statistician, product lead: Laura Powell
Any queries can be directed to profilefeedback@phe.gov.uk